The second-seeded Australian won 6-3, 7-6, dismantling the breathtaking game of the world junior number one who, for the second night in succession, belied his humble world ranking of 248.

The 18-year-old Monfils, winner of the Australian and French Open as well as Wimbledon junior titles this year, gave the former world number one plenty of scares as he briefly threatened to add the Australian's scalp to that of Thomas Enqvist he so confidently claimed on Monday.

But Hewitt, with his cussedness and in-your-face game firing on all cylinders, put down the rebellion to make the third round although Monfils, the Paris-born youngster of Caribbean stock, did more than enough to suggest that he could be joining the big names in years to come.

Hewitt hasn't played for three weeks, preferring to spend the time lying low after his highly-publicised romantic split with former Belgian number one Clijsters.

When pressed he steadfastly refused to discuss the issue.

"I have no comment to make on that," said Hewitt preferring to focus on his life on court rather than off it while his ATP minder warned reporters that only tennis questions would be tolerated.

"Monfils is a very flashy player. He's tough and will have a great future. In a way he's a bit like me," said Hewitt who next meets either Olympic champion Nicolas Massu or Belgium's Christophe Rochus.

"It took a while for me to get going out there tonight. I was trying to get the rhythm right."

Defending champion Tim Henman, the third seeded Briton, also made the third round securing his sixth career win in seven meetings with Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan 6-3, 6-4 in just 63 minutes.

He now faces either 16th seed Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic or Russia's Mikhail Youzhny, the winner last weekend in St Petersburg.

Henman said he had recovered from the mystery energy-sapping virus which had sent him to an early defeat at the Madrid Masters last month.

"I feel much better now after the lethargy and exhaustion in Madrid," said the Briton.

"I mixed it up pretty well tonight. I served well and that allowed me to dominate."

Paradorn had no answer to the Henman serve, taking just six points in the entire match.

Tournament top seed Andy Roddick is not in action until Wednesday, when he faces Armenia's Sargis Sargsian who put out last weekend's Stockholm winner Thomas Johansson.

But the brash American was still making news as he found himself defending the likes of Roger Federer and Andre Agassi who pulled out of the 2.45-million-euro tournament.

"In what other sport do you play 11 months of the year?," asked the American.

"I am going to finish my season on December 5 and start next year on January 5. I would rather pull out of an event than injure myself. If they can't understand the way an athlete works, it's too bad."